A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

served commitment to the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God led the Radicals inevitably to a new concept of the church as a voluntary association of true believers and to a new concept of the Christian life as Nachfolge Christi, or discipleship. By the end of 1524 the question of baptism had become the chief issue, and it was on infant baptism that the conflict centered. Zwingli saw clearly that if infant baptism were surrendered, he would also have to surrender the whole idea of Corpus Christianum, or the territorial con- cept of the church. Because of the gravity of the situation, the city council of Zurich called for a public meeting in which this question was to be settled. The outcome of this pseudodisputation on January 17, 1525, was never in doubt. The Radicals who preferred to be known as "Brethren" now had the choice between compliance and exile. On the evening of January 21 they met in the home of Felix Manz to consider what they ought to do. What happened on that memorable evening is reported in a moving account in the Hutterian Geschichtsbuch and given in English transla- tion by Bender as follows: And it came to pass as they were together anxiety came upon them, yes, pressed upon their hearts. Therefore they began to bow their knees before Almighty God in heaven and to call upon Him as the one who knows the heart; and they prayed that He would grant them to do His divine will, and that He would reveal His mercy unto them. Flesh and blood or human wisdom had not brought them to this point, because they well knew what they would have to suffer on account of it. After prayer George of the House of Jakob [Cajacob-Blaurock] arose and entreated Conrad Grebel for God's sake to baptize him with the right Christian baptism upon the confession of his faith. And as he kneeled down with this request and desire, Conrad baptized him, since at that time there was no ordained minister to perform such work. . . . ,0 After his baptism at the hands of Grebel, Blaurock baptized all the others present. The newly baptized then pledged themselves, as true disciples of Christ, to live lives separated from the world and its evil works, and to spread the Gospel and keep the faith. This, according to Estep, "was the most revolutionary act of the Reformation." 1 1 Here, for the first time in the course of the Reformation, a group of Christians dared to form a church after what they conceived to be the New Testament pattern. All free churches of the present day — including the Mennonite Brethren — are indebted to them. SPIRITUAL HEIRS OF THE EARLY ANABAPTISTS 7 Dutch Anabaptism The early decades of the sixteenth century constituted a period of great social and religious ferment in the Low Countries. The Brethren of the Common Life, the Humanists (e.g., Erasmus) and the Sacra- mentarians all contributed to this ferment and prepared the way for the reform and renewal of the church. The Sac